Chapter 13: Spectator Mode
Teleporting across vast distances and warping the fabric of space was not as easy as Mewtwo made it look. It was the psychic equivalent of sprinting if levitating was walking. According to Dr. Andonuts, the 'scientific' explanation of how it worked had something to do with creating wormholes. For Lucas, he had no idea what worms or holes had to do with it. All he knew was that he could only go to places by using his memories of them, and he had plenty of memories of the castle.
It was an archaic, yet sort of cool looking place that many of the temporally-displaced Smashers called home. He remembered the stone walls and towers that rose into the sky, the red square tiles on the roof, and the many flagpoles that bore banners of the many countries the medieval swordsmen and sorcerers hailed from, with the off-center cross cutting through a circle that served as the symbol of the Smash Brothers above all the others. He remembered all the work that went into renovating the place after the Subspace War left it a battle-scarred wreck. He remembered the times Link (the sailor one) tried teaching him how to use a sword instead of just smacking people, not that he'd ever understand how those weird sword beams worked. He remembered how one area of the castle was turned into a battle arena called "Castle Siege", and how in his first match there he received many reminders of how he was 'too slow'. He also remembered enjoying the sight of Sonic slipping on one of Diddy Kong's banana peels and falling off the stage from his own speed while watching from atop one of the castle walls, which had been empty.
Unfortunately, it was no longer empty.
Lucas only had a split second to react as his PK Teleport made him appear right next to his green-capped friend. He shielded his head with his arms, wincing as he was about to crash into him...
"Behind you!"
Someone pulled Link out of the way at the last second. Somehow. The distraction made Lucas trip and skid across the stone tiles...on his face.
"Ow..."
He thought he'd gotten over his tripping habit since the third tournament.
"Are you all right?"
He glanced upwards, wincing from the pain. Someone with an accent similar to Jeff's and blonde hair like his own (minus the cowlick) was offering him a hand as he picked himself off the ground and dusted off his clothes. He took it and stood up, giving him a better look at the people around him. He had nearly hit Link, and the guy who pulled him out of the way looked familiar.
Lucas held the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm ok...but I almost hit you guys! Sorry..." He averted his eyes in embarrassment. He was really getting sick of being such a bad teleporter. The fact that some of the newcomers could do it easily only deepened his shame.
Link shook his head. "It's fine. I'm fine, thanks to..." He paused for a moment, turning to the newcomer. "What was your name again?"
"It's Shulk, and the answer is that I saw the future." His eyes glowed bluer than usual for a second.
Link tilted his head in confusion for a moment, making the end of his green hat droop over his left pointy ear.
"Wait...Thanks for the help, but how did you see him com-" He cut himself off in realization, and his jaw dropped.
"Oh."
Ness looked over to Link and nodded to confirm that thought, then returned his curious gaze to the third blonde among them. "Yeah...I fought this guy in space earlier, and I thought he was bluffing about that. Now, I'm not so sure..." Even though Ness had traveled through time before, he had his doubts. That would mean the visions Mario told him Shulk had were true, and that was ridiculous. Ness didn't need his PSI to tell Link had the same thought as him, since he spoke up for once, looking back at Shulk while even more confused.
"I don't understand...if you can predict everything, wouldn't you always win?"
Shulk waved his hand dismissively, as if he'd heard this question far too many times in the past few days. Far too many times..."While the Monado lets me see the future, that doesn't include all of it. I'm not a god!" He glanced to the side pensively, as if remembering something.
Ness closed his eyes, lost in thought. Could it be true that this guy could see the future? That meant the predicting and cheesy one liner he used back in their battle was more than just luck. In that case, it was time for some payback.
He put two fingers to his forehead to focus his PSI.
"If you really can do that, try asking me something. Doesn't matter what. You can predict stuff, right? So try figuring out what I'll say before I say it." He grinned with anticipation.
"If you say so. So...what's your favorite-"
"Baseball."
"-sport..." Shulk gasped as his eyes widened. "What? How did you...that's supposed to be my trick!"
Don't tell me he can see the future too!
"Nah, I'm not gonna tell you that, because it isn't true."
What? No, that wasn't seeing the future...he read my thoughts just like the Telethia..!
"Telethia? What's that? It sounds kinda like 'telepathy'..."
Shulk's expression changed from a dropped jaw to a scowl. Ness had brought back a bad memory. Link adjusted his green cap in confusion, while Lucas sighed. He cast PSI Shield on Shulk to stop the mind reading and put his hands on his hips while frowning at Ness. He looked almost like a disappointed mom scolding her child...
"Come on, stop messing with him..."
"Sorry, sorry...Gosh, I'm not gonna spy on your brain like some creep, I was just teasing!" He pulled his cap down over his face in shame, opening his eyes again. Telepathic PSI was much more effective when there weren't other senses occupying his finite attention span. That didn't mean it was impossible to pay attention to the real world and someone's head, but pushing his PSI too far could give him headaches or even make him pass out. It wasn't a weakness he was eager to tell everyone about. As for everyone, he understood how disturbed they would be by the thought of him reading their minds all the time: Mewtwo did exactly that in the second tournament. Still...
This time, it was totally worth it.
"Are you kids going to watch the battle, or not?" A familiar voice rang out, and all four of them turned their heads abruptly. It was from Reflet, and both her and the other unnaturally white-haired tactician sat nearby, looking down at the battlefield while writing down even more notes in their tomes.
Shulk sighed. He was eighteen years old, hardly a kid unlike the other three. Even they were hardly ordinary children after their...unique experiences. Lucas put his hands to the sides of his head in surprise and shame.
"Crap...I'm so sorry I distracted you!"
Ness shook his head again. "First of all, it was an accident. Second, that's gotta be the hundredth time this week...stop apologizing!"
"Oh...sorr-Ah!"
That gave the others a good chuckle as they returned their gaze to free-for-all on the red-tiled rooftop below. The battlefield was already full of cuts, flames, and magical explosions...
Link, Shulk, and the tacticians had their eyes on Ike, having the most to learn from watching his swordsmanship. Ness and Lucas were watching Bayonetta, which meant they all saw the same thing: the two of them fighting.
Ike was growing tired of the witch's taunts.
"That's quite the big sword you have there."
"..." Ike did not respond, not with words. His only answer was a dashing slash with the aforementioned 'big sword'. It nearly hit its target until she dispersed into a swarm of bats that reformed behind him. Time seemed to slow as he turned around, giving him some time to think. She had turned into an animal: could she be like the laguz of his world? No...they only turned into one animal, so this was something different. Some form of magic he wasn't familiar with, like Meta Knight's warping cape. Then again, it had been uncannily familiar to meet a mysterious masked knight with an item that let him warp. He was reminded of how wrong the foot they got off on was...
Time returned to its normal flow as she fired a hail of purple bullets plus another crude joke with a teasing voice.
"Don't you know what they say about men with big swords?"
The latter slowed him down more than the former. He scoffed, barely feeling the bullets while dashing at speeds that did not match his bulky appearance.
He raised his sword with one hand and closed the distance. Ragnell was indeed big, but with his strength the weight didn't slow him down at all. He shook his head, dismissing any thoughts her inneundos brought up. Then just before he swung it-
"You're no fun..." -a giant fist crashed through a portal in the air. At the last second, he jumped and landed right on top of it. Unfortunately, he could not slow down time by dodging too. What he could do was thrust into the demonic hand and cut upwards, sending out a blue energy wave (or as Meta Knight insisted on calling it, a "Sword Beam") that cut through it and continued towards the summoner...
And hit an unintended target: Bowser Junior. "Oww!" The royal Koopa went flying right into Ike's sword beam before it could reach Bayonetta, knocking Junior and his Clown Car into a nearby platform. A moment before this, Rosalina's red Luma punched him into Ike's attack while he was too distracted by the adults' comments to see it coming. His head hurt more from confusion than being punched or cut: he had no idea what they were talking about...
The sudden interception of his attack caught Ike off guard, so Bayonetta made her move. She pursued him with a flying kick to the chest, then flew up while spinning like a tornado to knock him into the sky. Then another flying kick, and yet another spin. Ike grit his teeth in pain and annoyance as the attacks just kept coming. He would be in trouble if he didn't escape soon...
But he didn't need to.
Something red barreled into the witch and saved Ike's metaphorical bacon, letting him regain his balance and land on his feet. The other mage jumped, no, floated over to the first, helping her 'son' by hurling galaxy-shaped magic blasts. He didn't have time or reason to be thankful to his other opponent. This was just the chaotic nature of battle, which he was all too familiar with. Now he had a new opponent: the royal brat, who threw some strange mechanical lizards down to the floor. They walked slowly towards Ike as the windup mechanism on them kept spinning...
"Bwahahaha! How do you like my Mecha-Koopas, tough guy?" His imitation of his father's evil laugh was more cute than intimidating, and the same went for the weird machines. They didn't look like they posed a threat, so Ike simply kicked the closest one away.
"Agh!"
He would have if it hadn't exploded on impact, knocking Ike away and covering his foot in soot. Rolling away from the momentum, he stopped himself by stabbing the ground, leaving another gash in the red tiles. As he looked up, he saw a few things. First was the mages dueling in the sky, the dark mage using her flying kicks and twists to try to carry the other one upwards, with limited success. The red Luma kept interrupting the combos, and she kept floating away to escape.
There was also a cannonball flying right at him.
Sparks flew from Ragnell as invincible metal clanged against so invincible metal. With a swing of the flat of his blade, Ike sent it crashing into a nearby wall.
The same wall the spectators were standing on.
Lucas winced as he instinctively stopped the cannonball midflight with his PSI, causing it to come to an abrupt halt in midair right before it could hit them. At least, that was what he hoped would happen. It turned out there was something called 'conservation of momentum', and making something stop instantly had the same effect as crashing into a wall, making the cannonball explode a few feet away from them. The force of the explosion was stopped, but not the smoke cloud that now obscured their sight...
It made all of them cough as well, and Lucas didn't need his PSI to tell they were frustrated at not being able to see the fight, only hearing the sounds of combat. That was why Link waved his magical baton while the two tacticians fluttered through the pages of their tomes.
[Robin and Reflet cast Elwind!][Link played the Wind's Requiem!]
WHOOOOSH!
One of those three spells would have been enough. With all three at once, the air pressure was so excessive that the resulting whirlwind blew away the smoke in an instant...along with a few other things. Lucas' hair blew in the wind, wasting the one second he spent combing it. His hat-wearing friends weren't so lucky. Both reached in vain at the hats that flew right off their heads, causing the two tacticians to glare at each other in blame and unintentionally speak in unison.
"This your faul-!" There was a pause. "Stop doing that!" Yet again, they spoke simultaneously despite trying not to. Ness imagined if this were one of those cartoons he watched back home, there would be lightning going between their heads as they scoffed.
Ness let out a deep sigh, then shook his head and gave them an annoyed pointed finger. "Geez, I thought you guys were the adults here! It's both your faults, ok? You should have just let Link do it instead of trying to one up each other..." The two of them entered an awkward silence, and Ness was even more certain adults were useless. Meanwhile, the smoke cloud dispersed, giving Ness a clear view of the hats that let him float them back onto their proper locations. Almost. He accidentally put Link's hat on his head and vice versa, leading to an awkward exchange of glances before they handed them over. Still, he had to admit the green one was kind of comfy.
Staying as silent as usual, Link noticed the guy with the strange sword being quiet too. Was he too focused on the battle? No...with how his eyes were glowing blue, he was looking at something else. When they finally went back to normal, he blinked a few times looking very confused.
"A vision..! That was a long one, but it doesn't make sense. It all happened so suddenly, as if I missed something..."
Ness shrugged. "What did you expect? Prophecies are never specific...isn't that right?" He glanced at Link as he said that, reminded how vague the prophecies were for both of them. Link silently nodded in agreement.
Shulk shook his head. "It's not what you think. My visions aren't vague: I see exactly what happens at a certain point in time, and what I see always comes to pass unless I try to change it. Sometimes, even then..." His eyes were downcast, remembering a few events he wished he could have changed. He shook it off, looking back at the battlefield where Rosalina made gravity swirl to deflect Bayonetta's torrent of gunfire while Bowser's son punched Ike through a stone platform with his silly-looking vehicle's boxing gloves. "The only downside is that I can't control what specific time I see, so sometimes I can't make sense of what my visions mean before it's too late. The future isn't so easy to change..."
"After all I've seen, I have to agree that destiny can be quite stubborn. However..." Robin joined in the conversation while observing Bayonetta kick Rosalina directly at Ike. "Difficult is not the same as impossible. Lucina taught me that much. Hmm...now that I think of it..." He wrote down a few notes on how Rosalina's magic barrier held up better against Ike's slash than Junior's Clown Car did against Bayonetta's giant demonic punch, then glanced at Shulk. "You can see the future, and she went back in time to prevent a terrible one...I think you would make good friends."
His counterpart was quick to join in. "Yes, isn't friendship wonderful?" Reflet's smile didn't match the chilling aura that emanated from her as she looked at Shulk. It gave Shulk some goosebumps and made him stop watching how Junior leapt from his damaged Clown Car and pulled out a strange paintbrush, landing not as himself but as a strange blue, watery version of Mario with red eyes.
"Y-yes, I suppose it is..." It was easy to tell the two tacticians were relieved even though they didn't say anything. If there was one thing they could agree on, it was not wanting people to hit on Lucina. Dating someone from another world in an interdimensional tournament was likely to end in tragedy anyways...
The younger spectators tried to ignore this awkward exchange while watching the battle intensify. With the damage the four fighters were dealing, one of them had to go down soon.
"What's that icky paint-like goop?" Lucas pointed to the puddles of what looked like graffiti that the transformed Bowser Jr painted on the floor. It clearly wasn't ordinary paint since Ike was hurt just by standing in it, and some weird red blob...thing appeared from it, attempting to jump at the swordsman only to miss and splatter into even more goop.
"You haven't heard? Mario told me he had to clean up a whole island full of it once thanks to this kid impersonating him...he says it's some kind of magic, and only water can get rid of it. It's super gross!" He and Link practically gagged looking at it. It reminded him a little too much of some of the monsters he fought in his journey to beat Giygas like the living pile of goo called "Master Belch".
"Ew..." Lucas could sympathize; he had seen a lot of gross things too. Still, he was more focused on watching the other two fighters...
Rosalina and her Luma were answering a volley of purple gunfire with their own barrage of Star Bits, riddling the stage with 'bullet' holes. Bayonetta went right under most of them with a sliding kick, following up with a kick that knocked her upwards. Ike parried Junior's paintbrush swing with his sword, then knocked away the Mario imposter with a punch, kick, and slash. It was getting easier for him to read the kid's movements now that he was copying the style of Mario who he had fought before.
Now that Ike thought about it, Bowser's son relied a lot on other people's work. That vehicle, the paintbrush, and even shapeshifting into Mario weren't truly his...it was a trait he didn't like seeing in royalty. Insane as Ashnard was, he had a point about how many people gained unearned power just because of their blood. It frustrated him, and those thoughts distracted him enough to get hit by a stray magic blast from Rosalina that Bayonetta dodged. However, as he got up from the ground, he felt something strange...
"H-he can do it too?!" Lucas' mouth was agape as he watched Ike glow in the Final Smash aura. Just how often was this going to happen? The newcomers weren't as shocked since they hadn't been in the third tournament where this never once happened. Ness was looking down at Ike while sitting on the edge of the wall, his legs dangling over the abyss dangerously.
"Why not? If that's how it is now, I sure ain't complaining!" His grin was more excited than curious. It didn't matter why; more Final Smashes were always fun to watch.
And it was.
It started with a wave of fire that knocked Junior into the sky, leaving him at Ike's mercy. Not just any fire either, but the blue flames of Yune, the goddess of chaos, which burned hotter than ever as Ike leapt the enormous height and hit him with slash after slash, each one sending out more flames.
"GREAAAT...AETHEEER!"
Lucas winced a little, feeling sorry for the kid as the penultimate slash left Junior spinning in midair while Ike raised his sword one last time. After a few seconds that felt like forever, Ike finally slashed downwards, sending himself and his unfortunate victim to the floor which erupted in a huge pillar of flame that sent Junior flying up and away, far out of bounds. Master Hand's voice boomed across the arena.
"BOWSER JUNIOR...DEFEATED!"
Unfortunately, the explosion left a giant burning hole in the rooftop, which was fatal to its structural integrity. Cracks spread across what was left, approaching the mages who barely escaped the eruption itself. Then...
CRASH
The entire rooftop collapsed, sending the remaining fighters falling down to the ground floor along with a huge shower of debris. Normally, this would be the last they saw of the fight. After all, how would they see a battle inside the castle when they were standing on the nearby walls?
Snap! With a snap of his fingers, Master Hand made a holographic display of the battle on the wall which would otherwise be blocking their view. While in other arenas a TV would be used instead, it would be quite out of place in this medieval castle compared to a magic spell. Below it, it showed the names and pictures of each fighter from left to right. There was also a small Smash Bros logo next to each of their faces, except Junior since he was eliminated. It even showed how many KOs each one inflicted and received, which meant a +1 for Ike, -1 for Junior, and 0 for the others.
It also displayed how much money each spectator had bet on each fighter. In this world, there was a currency called "Coins" that the fighters earned based on their performance in battle and could use to buy various luxuries, and one way to spend it was to bet on matches. If the fighter you bet on won, you would get money that had been bet on the losers. Lucas never gambled on it for a few reasons. He didn't feel like profiting off of other people's work, and even if he did he knew it wouldn't work with his luck, and he just had a terrible history with money.
Most bets were on Ike, considering his status as a veteran unlike all the other fighters and how well he did in the third tournament. That meant the one person who bet a hundred Coins on Bayonetta would make five times that much if she won.
It was Wario. Lucas grit his teeth silently and looked back at the battle. He had a terrible history with greedy fat men and their obsession with money, not something he wanted to dwell on.
Bayonetta was standing sideways on the wall's interior, firing at Rosalina who floated around, using the marble statues as cover. Ike struggled to get to his feet, using his sword to stab the ground while clutching his head with his other hand. He looked exhausted.
"What? How did he..." Shulk trailed off in confusion. Unlike the veteran fighters, he hadn't seen this trick of Master Hand's yet. It turned out that controlling light was very easy for him. In fact, everything was easy for him.
Ness shrugged. "I dunno, the same way he does everything else. He's basically a god, so it's easier to say what he can't do!"
"So, what can't he do?"
"Take a joke."
"That sounds about right. Gods tend to have terrible senses of humor...I should know."
"Nah, I wouldn't say that. I met a goddess the other day and she was pretty funny!"
"You can't be serious."
"What, you think she's boring too?"
"That's...not what I meant."
They were distracted by the announcer's voice, and the sight of Ike flying through the castle walls and into the blast zone from the red Luma's punch.
"IKE...DEFEATED!"
The two tacticians quickly wrote something down, then shared a brief glance. One had a smug grin while the other hung his head in defeat.
"I thought the Radiant Hero of legend would last longer than that. Gods, I bet a hundred Smash Coins on him for nothing!"
"Your loss. You shouldn't underestimate these new fighters...for all we know, they might have their own legends."
"Is that so? I believe the problem was something else. It was that 'Final Smash' of his...right after he used it, it exhausted him and left him vulnerable."
"You always have to disagree, don't you?"
"Of course I do! You're essentially another me, and it's in a tactician's nature to always doubt himself and make second or third plans. Naga knows I need them with my luck..."
For once, they shared a chuckle instead of a glare.
"Yes. Yes you do."
[Robin and Reflet reached support level B!]
Hearing them talk about Ike made Lucas wonder if he still owed him and the rest of those three swordsmen for their help a long time ago against that monkey-like robot, Galleom. Their attacks had damaged it a lot, but on the other hand that was what made it collapse the roof of the ruins and fall right on top of him and Red, forcing them to finish it off...Then again, it would have taken them out with it using its self-destruct if not for Meta Knight catching them. He still remembered how cautious he had been of the masked blueberry at first thanks to his bad history with masked men.
Lucas sighed. He was getting too caught up in his memories...he finally looked back at the fight, realizing he'd miss the ending if he kept getting distracted.
It was down to the wire now: just Rosalina and Red (the Luma, not the trainer!) against Bayonetta. They looked tired...Red was panting despite having no mouth, and Rosalina's dress had gotten a little dirty from all the debris. Bayonetta on the other hand seemed as good as new as she readied another portal above Rosalina's head.
Rosalina waved her wand, creating three Pull Stars above the portal just as the demonic and high-heeled foot came stomping down. Blue magical beams came from each and grabbed the foot right inches away from her face, then started pulling it back into the portal despite its struggle. A few punches from the angry Luma sent it back to wherever it came from.
But that was just a distraction, one that Bayonetta used to catch Red off guard with a flying kick followed by another tornado-like spin to separate him from Rosalina, followed by a pistol-whip that sent him into the wall with a thud. He tensed up when the damage made Red go poof into stardust, until he remembered he would just come back later like Olimar's Pikmin. Thankfully, no one could actually die in this world...
It still put her at a disadvantage, the same kind the climber duo had when separated. He really missed them and their snowball fights (even though they always won)...as he thought that, Rosalina jumped and fired a ring-shaped magic blast that launched Bayonetta further upwards. She threw a galaxy-shaped disc at the witch next, but it sliced a statue behind her in half instead. She had narrowly dodged it again by briefly sprouting butterfly wings to jump out of the way.
"Now this is familiar...I may be a witch, but the last woman to throw galaxies at me was quite the bit-" She suddenly cut herself off, realizing kids like Junior might be watching on TV. "...Never mind. Let's just get to the point." She did a cartwheel to the side to dodge a volley of Star Bits, then closed the distance with a sliding kick that knocked Rosalina up into the air. Before she could retaliate, she followed up with another flying kick, then a barrage of pistol-whips, then another spinning jump. Then another flying kick, another punch, more gunshots...
Lucas was practically tearing his hair out at the sight of Bayonetta's infuriating combos. Not that it made it any better: without her Luma's help and with all the damage she took already, Rosalina just couldn't escape. It was something only Ness noticed. Not the combo, but Lucas's reaction to it. He gave him a nudge on the shoulder.
"You okay there, bud? I didn't think you'd get so...attach-HOLY CRAP!"
Both of them were in awe of what came next.
An almost blindingly bright light shone from a star Rosalina summoned. It resembled the Power Stars Mario collected, except larger and with rounded points. This was one of the Grand Stars powering the Observatory, and from it came countless star-shaped projectiles that slammed into Bayonetta and the floor below. One after the other, the stars filled the stone floor with holes that flickered with light. In only seconds, the ground started to tremble...
CRASH
Once again, another castle floor crumbled, sending the witch and a shower of debris falling below, pursued by the storm of shooting stars. Her Final Smash was not so different from the PK Starstorm, making up for the stars' lack of size and power with their sheer quantity.
Bayonetta was falling to a place that looked like hell, which she knew from experience. The castle basement was full of molten rock and lava, with only a precariously tilting rocky platform between her and the fiery depths. A fitting place for demons and tortured souls, or a final battle. Seeing Rosalina look down at her silently from above with that glare and that rain of stars...it felt almost like facing the wrath of a god. It made Bayonetta smile as she jumped from one piece of falling rock to another, each vaporized by a star the instant she escaped.
"Now this is what I call a climax!"
Ness rolled his eyes, while Lucas barely noticed what she said. The Grand Star kept raining dozens of smaller stars in the direction Rosalina pointed her wand. Again and again, Bayonetta narrowly dodged the stars...until she didn't. She quickly ran out of rocks to stand on and was sent flying into the precariously balanced rocky platform, which was filled with holes as more and more stars rained from above. The platform shook violently until it finally collapsed, sending Bayonetta falling to her doom...
Until everything slowed to a halt.
For a second he thought it was only his mind playing tricks on him, but the Final Smash aura around Bayonetta said otherwise. Her eyes and the air were taking on a purple hue as everything moved at a snail's pace. The stars, the crumbling rock, and even the explosions all moved in slow motion. Only Bayonetta could move normally, effortlessly batting the barrage of stars away with a summoned demonic arm that swung a backhand, making them poof into stardust.
She jumped, easily avoiding the midair stars by gaining butterfly wings again. It only took a few more jumps from flying debris to flying debris before she was right next to Rosalina. He couldn't get a read on her thoughts and feelings at all, and trying gave him an incredible sense of dread...it must have been coming from that thing she was summoning from another of those purple portals.
The demon she summoned from her hair this time was much more menacing than the arms and legs were. It was the head of a large reptillian demon with black scales, hateful red eyes, and above all a huge mouth full of incredibly sharp fangs. It looked almost like a dragon...
Rosalina was helpless to do anything except slowly turn her head as the demon opened its enormous mouth, and Lucas was helpless to do anything but watch.
The demon which then used its giant fangs to bite down on her entire body viciously, wringing its mouth back and forth as it tore into her flesh. Only the rainbow-colored energy of the Final Smash came out, not blood. Lucas's eyes widened slowly, and he missed a breath as the draconic beast kept biting her.
The draconic beast kept biting her.
A memory flashed before his eyes in parallel with what happened in the real world. It was so similar, it felt almost like some sick cosmic joke.
[Rosalina took mortal damage]
He heard it roar, and he saw her 'bleed' the same multicolored light of the Final Smash aura.
Then, in an instant, she disappeared in a flash of light, the same way as someone hitting the blast zone would. Except, she had not hit the blast zone.
The air returned to normal, and time began moving at its normal flow again.
Lucas didn't hear the announcer say 'game' or 'Bayonetta wins'. He didn't hear the audience's cheers or boos, or notice his friends' worried looks. He had tuned it all out.
He stopped holding his breath only when her trophy reappeared with the others in the place where Bayonetta did her victory pose. The tradition of shaking hands after battle only applied to one on one matches, so it didn't happen here. Rosalina's trophy and the other two were automatically revived by a snap of Master Hand's fingers, and at the same time the massive damage dealt to the castle was undone in a flash of light. However, Rosalina collapsed to the floor as soon as she returned to normal, making Lucas gasp. She didn't seem to be conscious.
He jumped off the wall, jumped again with his PSI, and launched himself with PK Thunder to reach the platform, grabbing it with Rope Snake and pulling himself up. He frantically ran to her side as fast as humanly possible. Luckily, the match was no longer being broadcast. He sent a wave of green healing PSI as he stood next to where she had fallen.
[Lucas tried Lifeup Ω!][Lucas tried Healing Ω!]
Again and again, he tried to heal her and wake her up, to no success. For the first few seconds, he continued to panic, until he remembered he was a telepath. He sighed with relief, sensing she was at least alive if not awake.
At the same time, Bowser Jr. had woken up Ike much less gently by flailing his arms at him in anger. Ike quickly woke up and kept him at arm's reach with his hand, making him only swipe at air. Ike didn't feel any pain, only annoyance. With the other hand, he clutched his headband. He had a terrible headache and a bad mood.
"Ugh...what's your problem, kid? You lost. Get over it. I did."
"You! You're the problem! You...you got that glowy aura without breaking the ball thing first! Papa said you have to hit that first, so that means...you're a big cheater!"
"Really? Then, how exactly do you think I cheated?"
Junior scratched his head. "I...uh...I dunno, but it must have been bad!" He looked around at each of them while growling in annoyance. "Grrr..." Then he saw Lucas and pointed at him angrily.
"And you're an even bigger cheater! If you hadn't showed up, Papa wouldn't have lost against that stupid baseball kid!"
Looking away from Rosalina for once, Lucas wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't deny his intervention made Bowser lose, but that was why the match was canceled and redone...and Bowser lost again anyways. Although that might have been since Ness regained his motivation once Lucas returned, no rules were broken in the second round. He didn't have to say anything, since someone spoke before him.
It was Ike, who crossed his arms and frowned, disappointed at how annoying the kid was.
"I know your father is a sore loser, but didn't your mother at least teach you some manners?"
That was a very poor choice of words.
"My mama..? You mean Mama Peach? Wait...no...Papa said Peach isn't really my mama..." His voice started choking up, and he looked away. "I...I d-don't have a mama..."
They were left in shocked silence. Even without PSI, Lucas could sense the anguish coming from the kid. With it, it was a lot worse. He tried to say something.
"I'm so sorr-"
"Shut up! I don't want your stupid pity! Just...just leave me alone!"
He sniffed, wiping his eyes with one hand and painting an "M" symbol on the ground with his magic paintbrush. Before anyone could say anything else, he jumped into the strange glowing graffiti, using it to teleport away...somehow. The others kept their distance from the portal, not wanting to get sucked in as well.
Lucas was left in stunned silence.
Ike shook his head while looking at the portal with the same look he had whenever he accidentally left a pegasus knight in an archer's range. Which wasn't often. Sighing, he fished through his pocket for some kind of powder. Warp powder, the tool his former nemesis, the Black Knight, used to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now it was Ike's after taking it from his corpse. A magic circle glowed below him as he used it to warp away.
With Ike gone, Lucas looked back at Bayonetta. He didn't know what to say to her. However, words weren't necessary for her to get the meaning. Any sympathy he had for her before was gone now thanks to what she did. Even if she was trying to win, there was no need to make it so painful...or to do it like that of all the possible ways.
The unusually tall woman glanced at him, then at Rosalina, then back at him. 'Mercy' wasn't a word she was very familiar with when it came to battle: she had a habit for disposing of the angelic hordes that came after her soul every other day in equally creative and painful ways. Still...even though he couldn't get a read on her, he saw some kind of realization in those eyes. Evidently she had seen something in his too as she said something quiet enough that the audience fortunately didn't hear.
"Oh. Sorry about that, little boy. I didn't know you were adopted."
He tried to answer, but no words came out of his mouth. Probably because his jaw was somewhere near the floor. Just before he could respond beyond a stutter in disbelief, she had already summoned another of those purple portals and stepped through it to who knows where, winking just before she left.
The arena wasn't anywhere close to silent with all the cheers mixed with boos for the witch's victory among the audience, which helped drown out anything anyone was saying in particular. The only exception was a laugh he could hear in the distance, elsewhere in the spectating areas from where his friends had been watching from. It made him clench his fists enough that his knuckles went white; he'd never forget that sound...
"WAHAHAHAHA! I'll be rolling in Coins now!"
He didn't want to hear it a second longer.
This strange mixture of emotions was overwhelming. The anger at the witch and the fat man, the fear for Rosalina, the sadness for Junior, and now the pressure of being seen by all the spectators in the castle...it was all too much. The fact he could sense their emotions only made it worse. Many of them had probably overheard what Junior said and then connected a few dots based on what they were feeling while staring at him now.
Pity. So much pity.
[Lucas tried PK Teleport β!]
Like always, he ran away from the attention, running in a circle to accelerate and then teleport himself and the unconscious Rosalina, who he managed to carry with some PSI-enhanced strength despite her considerable height, far away from this place.
Ness couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment when he looked at the data displayed on that holographic screen. It wasn't that he had anything against Bayonetta. Wario, on the other hand...saying he didn't like seeing him earn all that money was putting it lightly. Being turned into a statue wasn't the best first impression, and the effect it had on Lucas only made things worse. That wasn't counting how much he reminded him and Lucas of certain other people either. However much Wario irritated him, he knew it was even more personal for Lucas thanks to his unfortunate history.
He sighed, pulling down his cap over his head. Sometimes he honestly wondered if there was some malevolent god out to make his friend's life a living hell...
Luckily there was some conversation to take his mind off of that. It was from Shulk, whose eyes lit up as he realized something.
"Now I understand...the reason why everything happened so quickly in vision was because time itself was compressed! Incredible..."
Ness made a half-smile. "So it's not just the accent, huh?"
"What? I'm a seer, not a mind reader..."
"Like Jeff, I mean. You act like him too, cause you're such a nerd."
"...I'll take that as a compliment."
Meanwhile, Robin was looking at the arena, then back at his book curiously.
"I can't believe even a child knows Warp magic...Ricken doesn't count, he's older than he loo-AGH!"
Robin got a book to the face for that comment, which he managed to catch right after it hit him while opened, making him look like he took the word 'bookworm' a bit too literally.
"That's your first thought?! Don't you care for that poor boy at all? Just look at him!" A furious Reflet pointed back at the arena. Of course, no one was there anymore.
Robin's voice was muffled due to being stuck in the book. "Ugh...that's not what I meant...oh, speaking of Warp, here's the page for it!" He removed the book from his face to read what his counterpart wrote on the spell more clearly, then tossed it back to her and picked up a staff strapped to his back with his other hand. "Thanks for throwing the book at me, by the way. Now I remember how to use this spell..."
Reflet's eyes widened as she caught her book. "No...you wouldn't...don't you da-AHH!" She was cut off as a magic circle glowed below her.
"Checkmate." With a smile, he sent her off on her (not so) merry way.
[Robin cast Warp!]
This resulted in a shocked face, then a smile and a tip of the hat in respect from Ness.
"Nice. You got her good!"
"Yes. I suppose I did." He chuckled a little as he looked off into the distance. It was certainly satisfying to prank his alternate self, although that could come back to bite him later. "...I should leave before she returns. Even Grima has no fury like a scorned woman..."
A magic circle glowed beneath him again as he prepared to cast Warp on himself.
"Wait! Before you go, who's this 'Grima' dude? The name sounds kind of creepy..."
"It should. How do I say this briefly..." He took a moment to think, fluttering his tome's pages, showing Ness a few with a sketch of Grima and his Risen hordes.
"To summarize, Grima was a Fell Dragon that ruined the future of my world by possessing my future self and infesting the land with the Risen in his attempt to destroy humanity. Lucina went back in time to change fate, but he chased her into the past. In the end, we managed to slay him despite all the hurdles fate threw at us."
"Wait...an evil guy went to the past to stop a good guy from changing a bad future? That's straight outta Terminator!"
"Terminator?"
"Right, you don't know...it's a movie from my world about something similar, but with robots instead of dragons and zombies. It's really cool, and the sequel was even better!"
"...'Movie'?"
"Oh my gosh, you guys are so freaking backwards! Don't make me explain all this stuff again..!" He was already having flashbacks of how painful it was trying to explain modern technology to each successive wave of medieval fighters, and insisting that it wasn't magic. Sadly, they didn't believe him since he didn't fully understand its inner workings, unlike Jeff. Oh, the misery of educating the temporally displaced...
"Backwards? Please, we aren't barbarians like the Ferox!" He chuckled, only meaning it in jest. He didn't think any less of the Ferox. They simply had different ways, preferring to solve their disputes with tournaments and punches instead of debates and words.
"Ferox? Who are they?"
"Now who's the ignorant one?"
"Crap, you got me there…"
Robin didn't seem to be paying attention to his response, though. He had started looking around somewhat nervously, checking to make sure his counterpart hadn't returned yet.
"I had better leave soon, but before I go, let me ask something. It's hard for me to believe this, but I hear you're a veteran in this tournament?" He raised an eyebrow, unsure whether to believe what people had told him. It was hard enough to believe someone so young fought in this tournament for the 'greatest fighters in the multiverse' at all, let alone multiple times (which meant he was even younger the previous three times).
"Yup. One of the originals, too." Ness smiled proudly and maybe a little too smugly. There had been a time when the constant disbelief about his status annoyed him, until he realized how satisfying it was to prove them wrong in the field of battle later.
Robin's eyes narrowed as he tried to read Ness's expression. For as long as (the very limited time) that he could remember, he had a skill of noticing the smallest details to determine people's capabilities in battle at a glance, and since the era of relative peace after Grima's defeat he had turned to using it for less violent causes. That wasn't the face of a liar, as ridiculous as it seemed.
"If you actually have been around that long, then maybe you have an idea what that giant glove's real motive is."
"Real motive? Oh…I see what you're getting at."
"Yes…frankly, this tournament's rules make no sense. If all he wanted was to find which of us was the strongest, a normal tournament bracket would only take a day or two at most. I should know; I've been to a tournament in Ferox and it lasted under an hour! Instead, he has this elaborate point system where we are scored based on every minute detail of our performance, he allows so many types of matches besides one on one, he allows items and stages that can make matches completely unbalanced, and there are even non-combative challenges such as that 'Target Test'..." He paused for a moment, scratching his head in confusion over just how complicated this tournament was.
"I simply can't understand why he would make this tournament so...strange. I'm hoping you might know better after experiencing it yourself."
"Sorry, wish I could help you there, but I've had no luck. Maybe he does all this for fun, or maybe for glory? Even I can't see what's in his head…probably because he doesn't have one." Ness winked.
Robin resisted the urge to facepalm.
"That's a shame..."
[Robin cast Warp!]
Shulk sighed, making Ness tilt his head in curiosity, but not enough for his hat to fall off of course.
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just...I can't believe so many people can teleport."
Ness gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, neither can I! I kind of miss when I was special...You know, on TV, it's only the bad guys who get to warp around! At least that proves this isn't all just a dream, doesn't it?"
Shulk shook his head.
"No...I don't think I could imagine a place like this, not even in a dream." There were wizards, psychics, talking hands, a baby puffball, a masked blueberry knight, and so much more that he wouldn't believe if he hadn't seen with his own eyes. If he had been creative enough to imagine something so bizarre, he would have tried making video games or something.
Ness shrugged. "Eh, you'll get used to it. I know I did. Then again, I hear my world is weirder than most, so I might've had it easy..." He looked back to Link, who was looking towards the nearest entrance to the castle. "Oh right, you guys have somewhere to be, don't you?"
Shulk nodded. "Yes, I came here to spar with the other swordsmen, at least until everyone decided to watch this match instead...Now that it's over, I hope some of them are still interested." He looked at Link, who nodded in response. That was one, at least.
"Mind if I join in? I know I'm not one of you swordfighters, but..." He got out his baseball bat and gestured to it. "This is close enough, right? Right?"
He paused for a second. While Marth, the organizer of the training session, did say only swordfighters were invited, he figured Ness could be included if that giant lump of metal Cloud carried qualified as a sword. "Uh...sure." He noticed but quickly ignored a faint sense of hypocrisy considering his own sword was also far from normal.
And so, they made their way inside the castle. Still, Ness couldn't help his thoughts drifting back to other stuff...
He needed some exercise to clear his head.